[PetrolRider]

My wife uses these cabs a lot and indeed post covid the cab situation has gone to dogs.

Originally Posted by GTO

1. How do you guys handle this?

She lately starts booking at least 40 min prior to travel time, that gives her ample time to multi book. Her average, post-covid states 3 cancellations before a confirmed booking. Also, changing the payment method to cash helps sometimes.

Originally Posted by GTO

2. Is Ola better?

Availability a bit better but comes with huge risk. They wont mention surge pricing during booking process and charges surge price on whim. My wife was charged Rs 1200/ for a travel originally quoted Rs.325/-.
Ola customer care is non-existent. Some robotized humans will repeat the same thing irrespective of your questions (reminds me of a childhood story called 3 questions). The so-called customer care guy simply asked me to go to court and file a case and not to bother his team.
App uninstalled.

Originally Posted by GTO

3. Why the heck isn't Uber disciplining its drivers? Cancellations from the driver ruin the customer experience. It should impose penalties for drivers cancelling trips after accepting them.

My presumption is lac of driver partners. I can see significant reduction in number of cabs available on road. One Uber driver told me, a lot of drivers could not pay the EMI during Covid and hence left cab business and went back to their villages to do farming or other odd jobs.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by GTO

About 75% of the time, the driver cancels the booking and I'm allotted another car. That leads to a few additional minutes of wait time. On Sunday evening, I had two Uber guys cancel on me, finally getting the 3rd car.

Honestly Bombay is much better than Bangalore or Chennai. About half of the cabs/autos would land up without asking the destination. Didn't see a difference between Ola and Uber in either of these cities, both were equally bad. Didn't matter if you spoke in the local language or Hindi/English.

In Bangalore, every cab and auto will ask this question. Autos have a lesser propensity of canceling the ride. Cash payment is a must/GIVEN, but most drivers will accept upi payments to their own account.

In Chennai, you need to call up the cab and then only he'll move. Of course, assuming your answer to the above question matches his preferences. And again only cash accepted, there will be a second question on mode of payment for sure. Some do accept upi payments to their own personal accounts.

[speedmiester]

I have stopped using Ola and Uber even before pandemic. I just cannot rely on them anymore.
Have started using cabs from neighborhood taxi operator and never had an issue with them. Prices are little higher, but have no issues with cancellation nor cleanliness or problems with the drivers.

[SR-71]

Same problem in Bangalore except that they have one additional question - are you paying by cash ? If the answer is No, the ride gets cancelled. Both Ola and Uber does not discriminate when it comes to troubling their passengers. And neither wants to discipline their drivers for fear of loosing out the drivers.

[ValarMorghulis]

Oh, you think this is bad?

Try getting an Uber or Ola from a railway station with a pet!!
We have a 1.5 year old Cocker Spaniel and the moment the drivers see a pet they lose their proverbial holy feces (especially in Bangalore). This after encountering a zillion phone calls/ cancellations regarding the destination.

[hellmet]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Guys who stay abroad and use Uber - is it the same experience?

Not quite this bad. But if you book a regular Uber and the driver sees you with some luggage, they refuse to board you, ask you to cancel and book the next tier Uber. Some will accept but will want extra cash instead.

Once you do cancel, however, the same dude accepts and show up with the same car.

Most cars in North America are well capable of swallowing 2 big bags of luggage and a couple pax.

It's just human greed.

[graaja]

I have deleted OLA and Uber apps from my phone. I use local taxi services like RedTaxi where this problem is not present. In case these local services do not have a car nearby, I use an auto. Worst case, I use a bus.

[Dry Ice]

I don’t use Uber as frequently now but I recall this being quite common even 2-3 yrs back. At one point, I waited for over 15 mins since the driver did not want to go or cancel. I was in no rush. He eventually turned up and completed the trip.

AC not working is another way to maximise their earnings per trip. And they will not mention this when they call to ask about your destination. This will only come out when you are about to start the trip.

Still remember the days when Uber was the newest thing in town and almost every owner-driver was bragging how he was able to get a 6 figure payout in a matter of 20 days with 6-8 hours of driving. Not sure how it is these days but have noticed the general upkeep of cars has also gone down quite a bit.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by GTO

Of late though, it's become a menace with almost every booking being followed by a call from the driver asking "where do you want to go?" ("destination kya hai?")

This is something that auto drivers have been doing since times immemorial. I have examples from mid 80s Madras, where autos won't take a ride because they are heading a different direction, and this is in the middle of the day, not even night times.

This is just chashma utharo phir dekho yaaro. duniya nayee hai chehra purana for me

I grew up hating autos. I avoid them like plague. Its just that Uber/Ola have joined the party over the last decade. I literally have to run out of all transportation options to hail an auto or cab.

This is not just a pain with destinations, also with pick up locations. Whenever I book an Uber from office, I get a minimum of 6 cancellations.

The only time I use is for ride to airport/railway station, which has a high success rate.
For multiple-point rides on a day, better to use day rental cab.
For point to point rides without vehicle, I've taken public transportation.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by graaja

I have deleted OLA and Uber apps from my phone. I use local taxi services like RedTaxi where this problem is not present. In case these local services do not have a car nearby, I use an auto. Worst case, I use a bus.

Where Uber/Ola have proven to be quite indispensable are their use in specific instances where it is almost impossible to rely on other modes of transport:

a) Airport runs: ability of carrying more people and luggage than an auto / ease of doing so, over a bus

Bangalore is the rare exception where you'd gladly take the Airport bus over other modes of transport - no other city has such a beautiful service. Maybe the Delhi Metro Airport line.

b) Last mile / door-stop connectivity: over bus/Metro
c) Odd hours availability: there's almost 0 hope of getting an auto at 4am to go to the airport.
d) General availability and service quality: you can get a different cab much easily/quickly over an auto. The only times autos are helpful are when you're travelling short distance in core city areas.
e) The comfort/safety are of course, an important point as well.

[HumbleBee]

Originally Posted by GTO

I use Uber a lot over late nights, and if I'm going to a crowded place during the day with zero parking. Of late though, it's become a menace with almost every booking being followed by a call from the driver asking "where do you want to go?" ("destination kya hai?").

2. Is Ola better?

It was the same case with Ola too. The drivers would cancel if the destination was not to their liking. But since the past few weeks or so this issue has been reduced DRASTICALLY. From whatever I've heard from the Ola drivers is that, now they get an approximate location of the destination. Although it takes a bit more time to allocate a driver now (when compared to earlier) but "Where do you want to go?" and the cancellations after that has reduced significantly. Close to zero.
Hope this helps.

[boniver]

I haven't used Uber in Kolkata since 2018, when I learnt how to drive. I again used Uber in March 2021 when I moved to Bangalore. 3 drivers cancelled and the 4th guy finally agreed to take me to my destination 8kms away. Post that i started using Bounce (scooter rental), and a month later I got myself a motorcycle, so didn't feel the need to use Uber again. Cut to last month when my dad visited the city and we took an Uber to Church Street in the evening. Onward journey was uneventful, but for the return journey, atleast 5 drivers cancelled and then we got hold of an auto who dropped us at our destination, charging double that of what Uber quoted. This wasn't even late at night, must've been 8:30pm or so.

For airport runs in Bangalore, I use the services of one Deepam Taxi who has never cancelled on me till date. Pretty easy to book the cab on their website and you get an SMS with driver details. Don't have to pay on the app, just pay the driver while getting off. A one way trip to the airport or back costs approx Rs. 670 (Uber charges close to 1200-1300 fron my place, one way)

[akshaymahajan]

It has also become super common for the driver to come for the pickup after you confirmed the drop location and that payment will be cash and then offer to take you for a slightly lower rate but by cancelling the ride and short changing OLA/Uber. So both sides are trying to squeeze as much as possible from the other.

Happened just today morning when going to the BLR airport.

My standard response has become that I can't do that simply because I need an Uber bill to expense this to my company.

[poloman]

It is funny how wheels of time turn. There was a time when Team BHP was filled with threads and posts explaining how Uber and Ola are the best transport inventions ever in a century, how car sales are affected due to these platforms, how millennials are not buying cars.. so on and so forth.. It looks like we are back to square one.

I have never understood where these guys are willing to come. They don't come to railway stations, residential areas, commercial complexes and what not.. Looks like always in search for a reason to cancel.

I normally don't use these apps nowadays. But once in a while like to pick up car from service book cabs and 90% of the time call or message come from the driver. I indulge in some banter by giving destinations as Delhi, New york, London etc just to fool around with these guys. But if you are in a hurry this will frustrate to no end.

[karan0009]

Some very basic day to day encounter with Uber/Ola drivers in Gurgaon:

1) Drop Location - Delhi (90% drivers will cancel the ride).

2) Once you board the taxi, they'll ask you to cancel the ride and pay them in cash.

3) Always make sure that once you de board the cab, drivers stops the ride in the app. They make quick buck by not stopping the rides specially in airport/railway station drops.

4) Working AC in cabs - rarely you'll find working air conditioner in the cabs. Covid protocols is the reason they give, but it's impossible to ride in 40 degrees without ac.

5) Cancelations - drivers simply won't cancel. I leave it as it is and book the ride from my other phone.

Solution - I have started using BluSmart and they have never disappointed me. Only drawback is they aren't instantly available like Uber/Old and needs to be booked at least 30 mins in advance.